Thinking Inking

Intro to Coloring with Copic Markers Book

Welcome! You don't see many book review posts from me, but I think this one is worth sharing. I spent some time looking through Marianne Walker's recently released Intro to Coloring with Copic Markers foundations book this weekend. As I flipped through it, I kept seeing topic after topic that people have asked me about in classes. "Hmmmm," I thought, "might be a useful book for review of concepts!

Basic marker techniques? Check--in there.

Understanding how light hits a basic shape? Yes, also in there. 

Blank pictures that you can print and color along with Marianne's stepped out explanations? Also in there.

Blending colors from different families, using the Colorless Blender, creating texture? ALL in there, and much more as well. 

Even if YOU have these concepts down clearly, you might still find the book useful if you ever teach others basic art or basic Copic lessons. Check it out HERE, along with many other useful books on both art concepts in general, as well as marker rendering specifically. 

Sunday night, I'll continue with MFT release week posts. Thanks for stopping by,

Rainbows, Unicorns, and Glitter: MFT Release Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the My Favorite Things Stamps Release! Today I have a Magical Unicorns card to share. When I first saw the stamp set name, I have to confess that part of me was thinking, "What on earth will I do with a unicorn set?" But I have to tell you that as soon as I saw the set, I was smitten. Yes, yes I did I totally enjoy coloring pink unicorns with glitter! Before you ask, I did color a wing for my flying unicorn, but I didn't want to cover the dark pink mane. So I made an executive decision that my unicorn could fly without wings. I mean, he's magical, right? 

Here is the inside of my card. I don't always have to time to finish them nicely enough to show you, but I splurged with time on this one. The unicorn set was too cute to use only one unicorn! I airbrushed the background with my Copic Markers and Airbrush System, then colored the pink unicorn separately and die-cut him, adding a shadow at his feet. 

These are the Copic markers that I used on the Magical Unicorns card.

Too many pictures? Seriously, I couldn't help myself. . . ;-) The sentiment that I used on the card front is from the Rainbow Greetings set, also a May MFT release. set.

I hope you get a chance to visit the the My Favorite Things Blog for a full list of everyone participating in today's reveal. Also, remember that there is a $75 prize up for grabs! Although the product links list is below, the links for the NEW PRODUCTS won't work until May 3 at 10pmEST. All of the others should be working now, and the new products links will work as soon as the release goes live.  

Happy Saturday, and think pink, glittery unicorns!

BB Magical Unicorns	Rainbow Greetings	Die-namics BB Magical Unicorns	Die-namics Blueprints 15	Blending Card by X-Press It
Smooth White Card Stock	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Hybrid Ink Pad Razzle Berry	Cool Diamond Microfine Glitter	Quickie Glue Pen
Lucky Prints Paper Pack	Foam Tape 3/8"

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Sitting Here Thinking of You: MFT Release Day 5

Welcome! Today begins the My Favorite Things Stamps May Release--Day 5--and I'm sharing a card made with the Make Yourself at Home stamp set and coordinating Die-namics.

I loved this little chair image and knew that I wanted to do some paper-piecing, enhanced with Copic markers. I used the linen print from MFT's Tranquil Textures Paper pack, stamping the chair image on both X-Press It Blending card and on the patterned paper, then trimming the patterned paper exactly on the stamped line and gluing it in place. I used Copics to color the feet of the chair, to add some shadows to the chair, and to create the background. The rug is paper-pieced from a sheet of the pale yellow MFT Watercolor Wash Paper Pack, with shadows for the chair sitting on it added with Copic warm grays. I used the same pale yellow watercolor paper for the afghan, then shaded it with warm grays as well. My back wall is colored with Copic BG70, and the floors in warm grays. I used several Die-namics sets, all linked below.

Be sure to visit the the My Favorite Things Blog for a full list of everyone who is participating in today's reveal, and don't forget that there is a $75 prize up for grabs! Although the product links list is below, the links for the NEW PRODUCTS won't work until May 3 at 10pmEST. All of the others should be working now, and the new products links will work as soon as the release goes live.  

Have a lovely weekend!

LJD Make Yourself at Home	Die-namics LJD Make Yourself at Home	Die-namics Blueprints 27	Die-namics Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX	Die-namics Tag Builder Blueprints 5
Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Smooth White Card Stock	Tranquil Textures Paper Pack	Watercolor Wash Paper Pack	Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Glue

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'Til We're Fossils: MFT CCWB Challenge

Welcome! Today I'm playing along with an MFT Stamps Creative Construction with Blueprints Challenge: Tags, Strips, and Flags, Oh My! Essentially,  this challenge involved using any MFT Blueprints Die-namics that have tags, strips, or flags, to place a sentiment. I don't make many cards without a sentiment on front, even if it's just one word. So I've always loved anything that can give me a great way to frame a sentiment! Above I've used a little banner from Blueprints Die-namics 27 to hold my sentiment.

I wanted to share the inside as well--mostly because I love this set, and I'm happy with how it turned out. I used a mixture of watercolor washes and Copic markers for backgrounds. You can probably tell which is which, with the front panel background being watercolor, and the inside having an airbrushed Copic background. The dinosaurs were colored with Copics as well, and then texturized with a Colorless Blender. 

Wouldn't you like to play along on this challenge as well? Check out the MFT Blog for all of today's participants, and play along with us if you get the chance!

Thanks for visiting today,

Prehistoric Fun	Die-namics Prehistoric Fun	Die-namics Blueprints 13	Die-namics Blueprints 27	Peerless Transparent Watercolors - Complete Edition Book
Whip Cream Card Stock	Watercolor Pad	Steel Grey Card Stock	White Detail Embossing Powder	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice
Hybrid Ink Pad Jellybean Green	Versamark Ink Pad

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Spring Daffodils: Created to Create

Good morning! It's a Power Poppy Digi's on-the-Fives Release day today, and I had the opportunity to color Marcy's lovely Created to Create digital image. I printed this one out on the small side--my card is 4-1/4" x 5-1/2", so the image rectangle is only about 3-1/4" x 4-1/2". I'm thinking that I'd print it a smidgen larger next time I color it though! I printed the image in light gray, and the sentiment in a mid-tone gray. (The sentiment is from an earlier Power Poppy digital set, Peonies.)

The Created to Create digital image comes in two versions--with and without a sentiment on the page. I chose to use the one without a sentiment so I could get a thank you card made. Yes, I'm unapologetically multi-tasking! :-)
 

Shown above are the Copic Sketch markers that I used to color this image--a LOT of them! Of course, I needed to fill all of the watercolor pans with a rainbow of color, and that took nine colors right off the bat. (As always, you can click for a larger image.)

After I finished coloring the Created for Creativity image, I pulled out both my Copic Opaque White and my Clear atyou Spica Glitter pen to add a few extra touches to the centers of my daffodils, as well as my highlight areas.

You can see the glittery bits a little better in this close-up, as well as the little dots of Opaque White for stamen in the yellow daffodils. I hope you get a chance to see what the other Power Poppy Instant Gardeners did with both the Created to Create digital image AND a second digital set, a remix of Juicy Strawberries. Check the Power Poppy Blog for a full list of participants; I've linked below to the ones whom I know are participating, but there may be others too! Thanks for stopping by today, 

Power Poppy Blog
Barbara Walker
Broni Holcombe
Cheryl Scrivens
Debbie Olson (HERE)
Jennifer Dove
Allison Cope
Christine Okken
Kathy Jones
Stacy Morgan
Tosha Leyendekker 
Guest Dina Kowal

Milwaukee-Bound!

Hey, Copic friends--just a reminder that I'm Milwaukee-bound on May 6 and 7 for Copic Workshop Classes! I realized after the fact that it is Mother's Day weekend. But getting to color all day Friday and Saturday would be a nice gift, right? The Milwaukee classes include:

• More Whimsical Faces and Hair,
• Vintage Values and Mono Tones, and
• Dress for Success: Clothing and Accessories. 

These will be held at:

Country Inn and Suites Brookfield
1250 S. Moorland Road
Brookfield, WI 53005
(262) 782-1400

My next Copic Workshops will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on June 3-4. They will be held at:

Springhill Suites
450 Center Drive
Grand Rapids, MI

Hope to see some of you there!

My Favorite Things and Xyron

Good morning! Yes, I know that I've been AWOL lately; I was in Portland last weekend for Copic classes, and things have been hopping here at home since I returned. This morning I wanted to share a couple of cards using both My Favorite Things Stamps and Xyron products. I've had a Xyron Create-A-Sticker for years, and and it's still going strong! On my butterfly card I used the disposable/recyclable 3" wide Sticker Maker, shown below.

 

I chose three different butterfly images from the MFT Stamps I'm Tweet on You stamp set and colored them all with my Copic markers. Next I die-cut them with the Die-namics I'm Tweet on You, and then ran them through the Sticker Maker with the front side facing the adhesive since I wanted adhesive on the front of the butterfly images. In the picture above, you can see that I have attached about half of my butterflies, after dousing them in glitter.

The rest of the butterflies are still upside down on that little transfer strip.

Almost finished here! I made a few extra butterflies to use on the inside of my card.

On the inside of my card, I wanted to lightly tint a sky to coordinate with the cardstock on the front of my card. I used some long Post It notes to mask about 1/4" on my card edges, then airbrushed with a blue-green Copic marker and my Copic Airbrush System.

Above you see my finished inside, stamped with a sentient from MFT's All Heart and adorned with glittered butterflies. I used a Xyron Mega Runner to attach my card front to my card base.

I used my Die-namics Stitched Strip to create flight paths for my butterflies. Aren't they cute? The "Fly away with me" sentiment is cut with a die from Blueprints 27.

For my second card, I stamped my MFT Lace Background onto watercolor paper with Versamark ink, and then used detail white embossing powder to heat emboss the lace image. I watercolored it with distress inks, including Picked Raspberry, Worn Lipstick, Spun Sugar, and Spiced Marmalade.

For my sentiment, I die-cut the "Thanks" four times from Smooth White cardstock, then used my Xyron 2.5" Create-A-Sticker to apply adhesive to the back of all four words. I had an easier tome than I expected aligning the die cuts since there was a little bit of play in the adhesive. After aligning them into a thick-as-chipboard unit, I used an Adhesive Eraser to take off the excess adhesive from the edges and then applied the sentiment to my card front.

I hope you get a chance to visit both the Xyron Facebook page and the MFT Stamps Blog; Giveaways are available in both places. . . just in case you were wondering! Thank you for visiting, and have a lovely day,

I'm Tweet on You	Die-namics I'm Tweet on You	LJD All Heart	Die-namics Stitched Strip	Die-namics Blueprints 27
Smooth White Card Stock	Sno Cone Card Stock	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Hybrid Ink Pad Razzle Berry	Warm Diamond Microfine Glitter

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Die-namics Twice the Thanks	Kind Thanks	BG Lace Background	Die-namics Blueprints 13	White Detail Embossing Powder
Watercolor Pad	Tim Holtz Distress Mini Kit #1	Tim Holtz Distress Mini Kit #7	Tim Holtz Distress Mini Kit #13	Razzle Berry Card Stock

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Thanks a Buzz-illion: MFT WSC275

Welcome! This morning I'm playing along on the MFT Stamps Sketch Challenge WSC275. I loved the large bee image from Fly-By Friends, and I wanted to incorporate "a buzz-illion" of them--give or take a few hundred thousand. . .

Here's the inside: I airbrushed the background, then used some thin foam tape to slightly raise my bee image.

Did I mention that my son's nickname when he was younger was "the B"? That's why I wanted to play with the bee image from Fly-By Friends! I colored the bees with Copic Toner Grays and Yellows, and then added BG000 in between the bees. Finally, I added glitter to the bee wings for a little bit of pizzazz.

Shown above is this week's sketch. Please be sure to visit the MFT Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the team has created for this challenge and to play along with us!

Thanks for visiting,

LJD Fly-By Friends	Die-namics Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX	Die-namics Blueprints 15	Die-namics Blueprints 27	Smooth White Card Stock
Steel Grey Card Stock	Daffodil Prestige Card Stock	Proper Pinstripes Paper Pack	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Premium Dye Ink Pad Grout Gray
Versamark Ink Pad	6mm Clear Droplets	White Detail Embossing Powder	Cool Diamond Microfine Glitter	Quickie Glue Pen

InLinkz.com

May the Forest Be with You: MFT Release Day!

It's that time--April Release Day at My Favorite Things Stamps--and I saved my favorite card to share with you today! All of the new products that we've shown this week are now available at the MFT Stamps store. 

I used a variety of products and techniques on this card. For the front, I used the new Cascading Scallop stencil and airbrushed with Copic G16 and YG06 and my Cpic Airbrush System.

I also airbrushed the inside of the card's background, creating rolling hills and a sky. (I made my cardstock stencil with and MFT Stitched Snowdrifts die.) Copic markers used above were YG21, YG25, BG13, and BG05.

I wanted to create a forest inside my card, but I didn't want it to compete with the animals for the spotlight. So I stamped the trees in MFT Cement Gray Hybrid ink, masking so that I could stack and overlap the trees. The third on over from the left looked a bit odd, like its trunk was levitating. :-) So I colored a longer trunk on it when I started coloring.

Here are my colored trees--again, I kept them lighter and less saturated in colors because I wanted them to be background--not the center of attention.

These cute guys? They deserve to be the undisputed center of attention! I layered a few mid-ground trees behind the animals, but kept the animals in the foreground (by layering the animals on TOP of the trees). I used a Copic Black 0.3 Multiliner to draw lines for a stripe down the skunk's tail. That wasn't really necessary, but it gave me a specific place to color up to.

I layered die-cut trees, cut with the new Tree-mendous Die-namics set, on top of my window, cut with Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Rectangle Stax. I wanted the little fox and skunk just peeping through the trees when the card was closed.

I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for the full scoop on the April Release. Again, all new products are now available at the MFT Stamps Store. Have fun!

Forest Friends	Die-namics Forest Friends	Die-namics Tree-mendous	Die-namics Blueprints 20	Die-namics Inside & Out Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX
Dill Pickle Prestige Card Stock	Gumdrop Green Card Stock	Kraft Card Stock	Milk Chocolate Prestige Card Stock	Smooth White Card Stock
Blending Card by X-Press It	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Cement Gray Hybrid Ink Pad	Elf Green Premium Dye Ink Pad	Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Glue
Foam Tape 3/8"	Stencil Cascading Scallop

InLinkz.com

Buildable Bouquet Hello: MFT Release Day 1

Welcome! It's My Favorite Things Stamps Countdown Day 1--sooooo close to the April Release now! The set that I'm featuring today is called Buildable Bouquet. I love florals, and I love sets in which I can arrange and rearrange the pieces: this set fits my criteria! I played with my Peerless Watercolors for both the images and the background, and I stamped with MFT's Hybrid Black Licorice ink.

Here is my card inside. Rather than watercoloring the background on the inside, I airbrushed the background with a couple of Copic Sketch markers, Y02 and YG13

I used my Die-namics Blueprints 27 scalloped, stitched die as my airbrushing mask, leaving the die in place after I cut the shape for the inside of my card. (I cleaned it with rubbing alcohol after I finished.)

Next, I wanted to pass on a simple tip, learned from my personal mistake, ahem, experience: when I first put my clear stamps on my acrylic block, I evidently straightened a couple of the stems. That meant then when I was ready to die-cut my already-watercolored flowers, they didn't quite fit the shape of the die. . . Oops! So, while I had to hand-trim a couple of my stems, I figured out how to keep this from happening again and wanted to share that tip with you. If you look at the picture above, you will see that the clear stamp of the largest flower is laying upside down on TOP OF the back of my die. Once the flower was perfectly aligned to the die, I just placed my acrylic block on top of the stamp back to pick up the stamp, and it worked perfectly. 

I used a few of the clear glass droplets as simple accents. Easy-peasy, pretty much! :-)

I hope that you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog to see a full list of the participants in today's Day 1 Reveal, and don't forget about that $75 prize each day! Although the product links list is below, the links for the NEW PRODUCTS won't work until April 5 at 10pm EST. All of the others should be working now, and the new products links will work as soon as the release goes live.  

Thanks for visiting today,

Build-able Bouquet	Die-namics Build-able Bouquet	Label Maker Sentiments	LJD Spring Wreath	Die-namics Blueprints 13
Die-namics Blueprints 27	Whip Cream Card Stock	Watercolor Pad	Watercolor Paper Pad	Peerless Transparent Watercolors - Complete Edition Book
Watercolor Brush Pens	Foam Tape 3/8"	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Wild Wisteria Premium Dye Ink Pad	Lavender Fields Premium Dye Ink Pad
4mm Clear Droplets	6mm Clear Droplets

InLinkz.com

Meow and You: MFT Countdown Day 4

Welcome to Day four of the My Favorite Things Stamps April New Release Countdown! Today I'm sharing from the Cool Cat stamp set. And I think I have a perfect use for this card; my parents just had a stray cat adopt them--a very expectant cat at that. So, what do you think? Could I use it for a Kitten Congrats card? :-)

I used Copic Sketch markers to color the image before die-cutting it with its coordinating Cool Cat Die-namics; then I sketched the background flooring in with a brown multiliner and airbrushed the back wall with BG93 and some BG96.  I know that I usually have a Copic Color Map for you when I color images like this, but I'm not at home right now to be able to see the container of markers that I used--sorry about that.

Don't forget to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of participants in today's reveal! There is also a $75 prize available--you can read about that at the blog as well. While my supply list is linked below, the links for the NEW PRODUCTS won't work until April 5 at 10pmEST. All of the others should be working now, and the new products links will work as soon as the release goes live.  

Thank you for visiting today!

BB Cool Cat	Die-namics BB Cool Cat	Circle STAX Set 2 Die-namics	Die-namics Stitched Circle Scallop Frames	Die-namics Blueprints 15
Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Hybrid Ink Pad Kraft	County Fair Plaid Paper Pack	Cherry Crisp Prestige Card Stock	Kraft Card Stock
Blending Card by X-Press It	Foam Tape 3/8"	Glossy Accents

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